


Save You For A Rainy Day

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-10 19:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5597260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>In his sleepy, dazed state Harry opened the door and was dumbstruck. In front of him was the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen. He was a bit shorter than Harry, had tousled caramel-coloured hair and was staring at him with sad blue eyes.  He was shirtless, barefoot and appeared to be holding a partially-melted mess of charred plastic in his hands. Harry honestly wasn’t convinced he wasn’t still dreaming.<em></em></em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Louis flatmate keeps destroying his things in a rather interesting fashion, so he seeks refuge with the curly-haired boy across the hall.</em>
  </em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save You For A Rainy Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scoutx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scoutx/gifts).



> Dear scoutx, sorry you had to wait such a long time for your fic. I jumped in as a pinch-hitter to write you this small, fluffy fic.  
> It's the first thing I've wirtten in a long time, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
> 
> I took some liberties with the original prompt but I hope you don't mind.
> 
> Title is from the Robbie Williams song "Deceptacon"
> 
> Thousand thanks to my beta and britpicker  Dell , without who this story wouldn't exist. You've cheered me on and listened to my whining and I honestly couldn't have written this story with anyone else.

Louis had been excited for uni. Not that he’d ever been much for school, but uni would be different. He wouldn’t have to memorise biology terms or fail his french vocab quizzes or, god forbid, take another maths test ever again. Instead he could learn about the history of the dramatic arts, memorise plays and hopefully also perform some of them on stage, later in the term. A bit of English class on the side wouldn’t hurt either.

Louis had also looked forward to living in a dorm. He loved his family dearly and would miss them terribly, but sometimes the house was just a bit too crowded and maybe having his own space for a while would be nice. He’d looked forward to having some flatmates, too. In his head he’d already made up scenarios about meeting new best friends, people he instantly clicked with. Someone he could have fun with at parties, but also talk to about his family in the dead of night when he was getting a bit homesick. Someone to help him plan pranks, but also to study with before exam weeks. People who would be with him for the rest of his life. Sadly, it didn’t go quite like he had imagined.

All of Louis’ new roommates were annoying to some degree. There was Liam who insists on going for a run every single morning at 6 am, which wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t always accidentally slam the door on his way out and wake Louis up in the process. 

Then there was Mark, a music student and an aspiring musician who could play a multitude of instruments, which was seriously cool. Louis himself had always wanted to do something with music, but drama had just seemed like a better career choice at the time. The problem with Mark was that he had chosen to broaden his musical horizon even further and had taken up learning the saxophone. Saxophones probably take a lot of skill to play and a good saxophonist could definitely make amazing music. Sadly, saxophones were also really, really loud and the brassy sound wasn’t all that pleasing if only every second note ended up where it should. Mark being so dedicated to his craft didn’t really help things, since Louis had to listen to the screeching sounds of the practicing musician every single evening. He’d actually taken to going out with some people from his course most evenings just to escape it, and his account balance wasn’t very happy about that.

Besides Liam the runner and Mark the musician, there was also Sandy. Louis had liked Sandy when he’d first met him. Technically he still didn’t dislike Sandy, the problem was just that Sandy was never alone. The first time the had met, they had had a nice chat for about five minutes and then Sandy’s girlfriend had entered the room and that had been the end of the conversation. Sandy was one of those overly committed people who spent all of their free time with their significant other and couldn’t wait to get married and start a family with the love of their life. Honestly, Louis wanted that too, he just didn’t have anyone to spend all of his time with, so watching a happy couple snog in his living room every day wasn’t exactly what he wanted from his uni experience. That they consistently kept him up at night with their rather enthusiastic fucking didn’t particularly endear them to Louis either.

Overall, all of Louis’ flatmates could do with some improvements, but definitely the worst out of all of them was Tom. Tom was studying physics, which he considered much more important to the workings of the world than, say, drama. He was also two years older than Louis, which somehow seemed to make him think he was in charge of the flat, or at the very least had command over all the common areas. 

“You left your headphones lying around in the kitchen again,” was the first thing Louis heard upon entering his flat. He sighed. He’d had a hard day full of lectures and football practice and really didn’t feel like dealing with Tom this evening.  
“Yeah, sorry, I’ll put them away.” Honestly, Louis didn’t get how a single pair of headphones could possibly destroy the whole ambience of the kitchen, but he didn’t feel like picking fights about something so insignificant. Tom just smirked at him and gave a rather nonreassuring  
“Oh that’s not necessary, I took care of it.”

That made Louis stop dead. “What do you mean you took care of it? Did you put them in my room?”  
“Not quite. But you’ll see.” Tom left the kitchen and a slightly baffled Louis behind. Then Louis noticed a strange smell he couldn’t place, just as a ‘ping’ announced that the microwave was done. Oh no! Hastily he turned to the now smoking microwave and opened the door. Just as he’d feared there were his headphones, or what was left of them anyway. Both earbuds were partially melted and sticking to the floor of the microwave. 

Louis slammed the microwave shut and stomped to Tom’s room. Without even knocking he pushed the door open and started yelling, “What the fuck is wrong with you? You can’t just microwave my headphones, you wanker!”  
Tom didn’t seem phased at all and just sat there calmly. “Well, maybe it’ll teach you not to leave your shit lying around. I know you’re new to uni, but common areas aren’t your personal storage unit.”  
Louis was a bit taken aback, he hated when Tom pulled the ‘poor little fresher, doesn’t know how things are at uni’ card. “Don’t mess with my stuff” he responded before going off to his own room. He laid down on his bed and listened to the screeching sounds of Mark’s saxophone coming through the wall. Maybe uni wasn’t really Louis’ thing after all.

...

When Louis came home the next day, the headphones incident had been pretty much forgotten already. After all, Mark had removed the molten mess from the microwave, which Louis considered at least a little sign of remorse. Overall Louis’ whole day was going much better than the day before. He’d aced one of his quizzes on Dramatic irony, scored a goal in practice and discovered that Sandy was not with his girlfriend for a change and was therefore up for a game of Fifa in the living room. Overall the whole day had been pretty good, or so Louis thought when he got into his bed that evening. Unfortunately that changed only five minutes later, when a sharp acrid smell seeped into Louis room. With a yelp he shot up from his bed to make sure no one had accidentally set fire to the kitchen. 

Thankfully, there wasn’t a fire in the kitchen, but there was definitely smoke coming from the microwave. Louis frantically unplugged the microwave, then opened the door and screamed, “What the fuck?” Inside were two smoking, partially melted Xbox controllers.  
“What’s going on?” asked a sleepy and slightly disheveled Liam. Apparently Louis’ outburst had alerted his other flatmates. “Why did you microwave your Xbox controllers?” He asked, confused.  
“Obviously I didn’t, but that complete wanker keeps destroying my things!” growled Louis as he made his way over to Tom’s room. 

This time he even knocked, although ‘knocking’ was a generous description for the way Louis hit the door.  
“Ah, Louis what can I do for you?” asked Tom with a friendly smile on his face.  
Louis wasn’t fooled “You can buy me some new xBox controllers, you dickhead! Those things are fucking expensive! And you can stop microwaving my stuff while you’re at it as well!”  
Tom was still smiling at him. “Why would I buy you new Xbox controllers? Maybe you should take better care of your things, if you don’t want anything to happen to them. Oh and you really shouldn’t microwave electronics, Louis. That can’t be good.”

Louis was speechless. Was that bastard seriously denying that he microwaved Louis’ things? Before Louis could do something really stupid, like murder his flatmate via a blunt object to his head, Liam pulled him away from Tom’s room. “Come on, Louis. You know there’s no talking to him and we really should get rid of the melted controllers. Those fumes can’t be healthy.” With a sigh Louis gave up and let Liam drag him back to the kitchen. It was getting late and he could always deal with Tom in the morning.

...

It was almost a week before the next incident. Even though Tom hadn’t replaced Louis’ Xbox controllers, he also hadn’t messed with any of the other things that Louis had left in the common areas, so there was an unspoken truce between them. At least that was what Louis had assumed.

Overall, Louis was having a shit day. First, he’d forgotten to write a paper that had been due in his History of Drama class and had to request additional time for it. Then, he’d twisted his his knee during football practice and had to watch for an hour since he couldn’t continue playing. Afterwards he’d gone to a pub with Zayn to get his mind off things, only to discover at the end of the night that he’d spent almost all of his budget for the month and could now look forward to eating super noodles for the next week. 

So when Louis stumbled into his flat in the middle of the night, his mood was already sour. He didn’t notice that anything was wrong until he’d already put on his sweatpants and gotten ready for bed. That was when he realized that the familiar acidic smell of molten plastic was lingering in the air. He jumped up and ran into the kitchen, which was quiet and deserted in the middle of the night. When he opened the microwave, he nearly burst into tears. His headphones had been easily replaced and the Xbox controllers, while more expensive hadn’t really been that bed either. This time he found his favourite Rovers jersey reduced to a smoking pile of plastic and fabric.

Carefully, Louis removed the jersey from the microwave. The writing on the back which had once proudly spelled out Tomlinson 28 had completely molten down and was glueing the fabric of the jersey together. Louis swallowed a sob. His little sisters had given him the jersey for his last birthday. They had saved up for month and specially requested from their mom to give Louis a joint birthday and christmas present just this once so they could get him something more expensive before he moved away for uni. And now it was ruined.

Jersey still clutched in his hand, Louis walked out of the flat. He couldn’t spend a single second longer in the same space as that asshole. Only when he was already outside did he realise that he didn’t have his phone with him. Upon further inspection, he also realized that he didn’t have his keys. And he wasn’t wearing any socks or a shirt, since he’d been planning to go to bed. It hadn’t been a problem inside the flat, but his feet were starting to get cold on the stone floor of the hallway. He briefly considered knocking, but he honestly didn’t want to deal with Tom if he opened the door. 

With a sigh he looked around the hallway. His gaze fell on the door across the hall. Maybe the people there would give him a place to stay until he’d calmed down a bit and come up with a sufficient way to punish Tom for the jersey. It was worth a try, at least, so he knocked on the door.

 

...

 

Incessant knocking woke Harry from his nap. It took him a moment to realize that someone was apparently at the door of his flat and since none of his flatmates seemed to be moving to welcome their guest, he rolled out of his bed, hastily pulled on some pants and stumbled towards the door. 

In his sleepy, dazed state Harry opened the door and was dumbstruck. In front of him was the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen. He was a bit shorter than Harry, had tousled caramel-coloured hair and was staring at him with sad blue eyes. He was shirtless, barefoot and appeared to be holding a partially-melted mess of charred plastic in his hands. Harry honestly wasn’t convinced he wasn’t still dreaming. 

Then the boy spoke, “Ehm, hi. Sorry, did I wake you up? I live just across the hall and, well, I don’t really..uhm, could you do me a favour? I…” he started to blush, still looking a bit sad and confused and Harry just wanted him to feel better .  
“Yes, of course! Anything! What can I do for you? What do you need?”  
Now, the boy was smirking at him, “Anything? That’s a bit forward, ain’t it? Maybe I want all your money. Maybe I want to steal your bed or something. Maybe I want your first-born! You shouldn’t be so agreeable to strange boys you don’t know, Curly.” Harry blinked. That… didn’t actually sound too bad. 

“I don’t have a lot of money, but you’re welcome to my bed anytime. We can share. Oh and I’m pretty sure I can’t actually produce any babies, but I’m totally open to adoption. So, you know, if you’re interested…”  
Now, it was the boy’s turn to blink at Harry. “You don’t even know my name and you want to adopt babies with me? I’ll just take a shirt for now, if that’s okay, and maybe the bed as well, if you don’t mind.”  
Harry hadn’t actually thought the boy had been serious about wanting to steal his bed, but why question his luck? “Sure, come in.”

The boy hesitated for a second, but then pushed past Harry into the flat. Harry rubbed his eyes, still not quite convinced he wasn’t just making all of this up in his head, but then followed the boy, who was now standing in his living room looking a little lost. 

“Uhm, so, my room is just through here. Oh and I can change the sheets if you want me to, it won’t take a sec… uhm,” Harry mumbled, not really sure what to do. 

“Well, that depends,” the boy said, turning to Harry with a mischievous smile. “Do your bed sheets require changing?”

Harry blushed. “No, of course not! I just figured, maybe you’re uncomfortable, with… I mean, you don’t know me and…”  
The boy laughed. “Relax, I didn’t mean anything by it, Curly.” His smile became a little softer. “So, will you actually tell me your name before we get into bed with each other? Or should I just keep calling you Curly?”  
“Oh, I’m Harry. Uhm, what’s your name?”  
“Well, thank you for giving me a place to stay for the night, Harry. I’m Louis,” the boy said and smiled. “So are you coming to bed now? It’s kinda late and I’m getting cold” 

Harry frowned. “Oh, I’m taking the sofa. You can have my bed, of course.” Louis glanced from Harry to the small love-seat in the corner, then back to Harry and raised one of his eyebrows. “You’re not gonna fit, love.”

Harry’s mind took a little dip straight to the gutter and he suddenly feeling too warm for the admittedly chilly evening. It wasn’t really his fault, there was a cute shirtless boy, Louis, standing in his living room, smirking at him and saying things that were really… suggestive. He blushed and Louis started laughing again. “Well, we can figure that out some other time,” he said with a glance at harry’s crotch. “For now, I just want to sleep, so come on.” He turned and walked into Harry’s room.

Harry hesitated, but then followed Louis. “I’m just here to get a blanket! I’m still sleeping on the sofa,” he defended himself as soon as he had entered the room, and almost regretted it immediately. Louis was already lying in his bed, looking sleepy and so, so inviting. The charred pile of fabric he’d been holding when Harry had found him in front of his door was lying at the end of the bed. Harry had a feeling it was somehow important, but decided to ask Louis about it the next morning.

His eyes tracked back up Louis’ body as he fussed with the pillows, getting comfortable, and noticed goosebumps raised on his bare arms and shoulders. “Um, would you like a shirt to sleep in? It can get pretty chilly in here sometimes…” He trailed off under the crinkle-eyed smile Louis was levelling at him.  
“Thanks, Curly. Very thoughtful, good hospitality here.” He winked and Harry mentally shook himself as he dug through his drawer to find one of his smaller t-shirts, and tossed it onto the bed.

“Hey, uhm, thanks for letting me stay here. I mean, I’ve kinda had a shitty day and just… Thank you,” Louis said, glancing up with a look that made Harry feel all warm and gooey inside. He smiled at Louis. “You’re welcome. Stay as long as you’d like. And, uh, good night.” Harry grabbed a blanket from his chair and returned to the living room. Before he closed the door to his room, he heard a soft “Good night, Harry”. As he laid down on the slightly too short sofa, he couldn’t stop thinking about the boy currently occupying his bed. He’d only known Louis for the fifteen minutes it took to get him settled, but he was already entranced and couldn’t wait to learn more about him. With a smile on his face, he closed his eyes.

…

After about five minutes Harry had to admit that taking the sofa had not been a good idea. He couldn’t find a comfortable position, his legs were either hanging off the edge of the sofa, or pressed uncomfortably into the cushions. His blanket was a bit too short as well, and the living room was slightly drafty so that he kept shivering. With a sigh he turned on his back and stared at the ceiling. Maybe he should wake up one of his flatmates and ask if he could share their bed. They’d only lived together for a couple of weeks, but it was still better than asking to sleep with a stranger. Even if said stranger had soft feathery hair and gorgeous blue eyes and a body that would probably fit right alongside his own. 

Just as Harry was trying to convince himself to wake up Niall and ask if he could kip with him, he heard soft footsteps. A second later Louis poked his head out of his room, looking soft and warm and like all the things Harry wanted in life.  
“See, I told you it wouldn’t work. Are you ready to admit defeat?” Louis said while clearly trying to suppress a yawn.  
“Yeah, I think I’ll just go wake up Niall and ask-”  
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Louis interrupted. “Look, if you’re really not comfortable sharing a bed with me, I can take the sofa. Unlike you I’m not a fucking giant, so won’t be a problem.”  
“Oh no, you’re my guest! I can’t make you sleep on the sofa!” declared Harry.  
“I’m not a guest, I literally showed up on your doorstep in the middle of the night without ever talking to you before. You don’t owe me anything”, responded Louis. He held out his hand to Harry and smiled. “Now, either I take the sofa or we share the bed, it’s up to you”

“I guess we can share the bed then,” said Harry, grabbed Louis’ hand and let himself be pulled inside his room. He hesitated once he was through the doorway and looked down at his slightly underdressed state. He had stripped down for bed, as he always did. “Uhm, should I maybe put on some clothes?”  
Louis’ eyes travelled up Harry’s body, taking in his long legs and lingering a bit at his crotch before meeting Harry’s. “Well, that depends,” he pondered. “Do you usually wear clothes to bed?”  
Harry felt his face warm. “I usually sleep naked actually, but obviously… I mean...”  
“Just as you are is fine with me then, I wouldn’t want you to overheat.”  
“Pants are fine with me as well,” Harry agreed.

Louis was already getting comfortable on the bed, cuddling up to the wall to make space for Harry, so he got in as well. At first they tried to avoid touching each other, but the small bed really didn’t provide enough space for two grown men, and after Harry nearly took a tumble off the side of the bed Louis turned around to face him. 

“So, uhm, this will probably be a bit awkward, but are you usually the big spoon or little spoon?”  
Harry replied instantly, “Little spoon. Uhm, are you sure that’s okay? I-”  
“Harry,” Louis interrupted him, “Stop worrying. Just come cuddle and go to sleep.”  
So Harry shuffled a little towards the middle of the bed and turned his back to Louis, who promptly wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist and pressed himself against his back.  
“This okay?” Louis asked and Harry only nodded.

Louis was warm against his back and soft hair tickled his nape. His arm was a comforting weight on Harry’s stomach and the sound of his deep rhythmic breathing was soothing. Harry pulled the blanket over both of them and closed his eyes, warm and comfortable and finally drifting off to sleep.

…

The next morning Harry woke up confused. He was lying on his back, something soft was tickling his nose and a warm weight was pressing him into the mattress. There were faint snoring sounds coming from somewhere just below his chin, but it was a glance at the strange lump of fabric lying at the end of his bed that made him remember what had happened. He smiled down at Louis, now lying on his chest instead of pressed against his back.

He would have liked to watch him sleep for a bit, but from this angle he could really only see the caramel-coloured hair and a vague outline of Louis’ body underneath the blanket.  
Harry briefly considered ways to untangle himself from Louis without waking him, but quickly gave up and decided to enjoy this quiet moment while he still could.

After a while the sleeping boy began to stir. His leg twitched and he scrunched up his nose, before slowly blinking and lifting his head.  
“Good morning,” greeted Louis, his voice a lot more raspy than it had been last night. “Sorry for using you as a pillow.”  
“I don’t mind,” Harry answered cheerfully. He’d been a bit nervous the day before, not quite sure about this strange boy that just showed up at his door and wanted to sleep in his bed, but in the light of day he couldn’t really see anything negative about the situation. Now he only wanted to somehow make sure this boy stayed.

“So, uhm, would you like some breakfast?” Harry asked. “I make a really good full English.”  
Louis moaned and snuggled further into Harry. “God, I think I want to marry you. You’re a good pillow and you make me food, what more could a boy possibly want.”  
“Well, I’m game if you are,” Harry teased. “If you want food you have to get off me though.”  
Louis groaned. “You better make it worth my while, then.”  
He rolled off Harry, taking the blanket with him and snuggling into the pillows.

Harry got up and put on some joggers and a shirt. Hot grease and naked skin didn’t mix that well, as he’d found out the hard way a couple of months ago and he didn’t want to ruin the morning with a trip to the emergency room. He glanced back at Louis, who had seemingly fallen asleep again in his little nest of pillows and blankets, and smiled before making his way to the kitchen.

…

When Harry was about halfway finished with the eggs, a slightly dazed Louis stumbled into the kitchen, holding the strange, burned object he’d brought with him the evening before in one hand.  
“Morning, love,” he greeted. “Sorry, if I was a bit, ah, forward last night… and also this morning. I kinda have bad impulse control when I’m tired,” Louis admitted.  
Harry just laughed “Oh, don’t worry about it. I think I enjoy you being forward quite a bit.”  
He turned around to look at Louis and took a moment to admire how his shirt hung on Louis’ smaller frame. 

“Well, I just,” Louis started, “I just wanted to thank you again. I had a really bad day and you made it a whole lot better.”  
“I’m glad I could help,” Harry replied. “And you know, you’re welcome to my bed whenever you want.”  
“I might actually take you up on that, if I have to keep living with that wanker,” Louis grumbled. 

That caught Harry’s attention. “You’re having trouble with your flatmate?”  
Louis snorted. “That’s one way of putting it. The dickhead keeps microwaving my stuff.”  
Harry blinked. “He...what?”  
“That fucking psycho takes things I leave in the common areas and puts them in the microwave. He already destroyed a pair of headphones and two Xbox controllers, and yesterday he ruined my favourite Rovers jersey.” He held up the slightly charred garment for Harry to see.

Harry winced in sympathy. “Yeah, that shirt definitely can’t be saved. Sorry, mate.”  
Louis just nodded. “I know. I don’t usually get that upset about a stupid jersey, but this one was a birthday present from my sisters, you know.”  
“So, how are you gonna get him back for it?” Harry asked. “I mean, he obviously has to pay for that!”

Louis considered for a second. “Well, I hadn’t really thought about it,” he confessed. “I figured I have to live with him for the rest of the term, so why make it worse? That was before he got the jersey though, so I guess he’s fair game now.”

“You don’t have to live with him, you know. You can just apply for a new room at the accommodation office. Actually, my mate Zayn is still looking for a flatmate. I could give you his number if you’d like,” Harry said.  
Louis beamed at him. “That would be great! Thanks, love.”  
Then, after considering for a moment, he declared “How about you give me yours first though? I think I’d quite like to take you out some time.”

Harry grinned back at him. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!


End file.
